Covid-19 in UAE: 40 life coaches offer free counselling

(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) Around 40 professional life coaches have volunteered to give complimentary coaching sessions to individuals and families who have been trying to plough through the Covid crisis. Dubai-based UV Consultants, an NLP and coach training organisation, launched the initiative called ‘Because We Care’ a month back and has so far conducted over 150 counselling sessions not only for UAE residents but anyone anywhere in the world who is facing challenges — both emotionally and mentally. VP Menon, managing director at UV Consultants, told Khaleej Times: ''The enormity of the Covid crisis and the impact it is having on people’s lives made me realise that it was time to offer our time and skills to help them get normalcy back in their life. Menon said that most of the people who approached for counseling sessions were women and they were more comfortable sharing their pain and problems with women coaches, who outnumbered their men counterparts in volunteering for the coaching sessions. ''While most of our trainers are women – 36 to be exact - our team is diverse. It comprises trainers from 15 different nationalities and languages who offer free, safe, non-judgmental coaching sessions to anyone. They give a patient hearing to let people speak and express themselves, share their distress, have a conversation of accessing faith and hope, take a pause and rest emotionally and mentally or are just someone to be there for them to help them through the tough situation. Many people are not able to share their pain with their families or friends and colleagues and are unable to get any emotional support. They feel lonely. All they need is someone to speak to, share their challenges and get some guidance on how to move forward, which is what our coaches do for free,” Menon said. When asked what the main issues people were facing, Menon said: '' As per the data collated, we found that most people sought help and support on issues such as how to deal with sudden death of a loved one (due to Covid), stress, anxiety, mental and physical health issues, phobias, financial crises, handling teenagers and fear of the future.” Talking about the positive outcomes of these sessions that are conducted over Zoom calls, Menon said: ''We are glad to hear from our coaches who said they helped people find peace, manage their relationships better with their spouse and children as the sessions greatly helped people in getting rid of their stress, anxiety and improved their mental state. Many people who took the coaching sessions also said their self-esteem and confidence greatly improved after the sessions, helping them gain control of their life and careers.” To avail of these free coaching sessions, Menon said people can go to Click/tap here to subscribe to Khaleej Times news alerts on Telegram. MENAFN12062021000049011007ID1102258089